Organizing and Development Process of Miniature Pilgrimage Courses in Japanese Society of Hawaii

Abstract

This research aims at grasping the organizing and development process of miniature pilgrimage courses in Japanese society of Hawaii. For the result of the field survey in Hawaii, we found the miniature pilgrimage courses in Lawaii and Waimea village on Kauai islands and also in Paauilo and Holoaroa villages on Hawaii Islands are related to 88-kasho. Based on interviews and historical materials analysis we examined the historical relationship of the society to the pilgrimage courses. Although Hawaii's plantation system provided a hard life for immigrant workers, at the same time the islands were the site of unprecedented cultural autonomy for Japanese immigrants. They confidently transplanted their traditions to their new home. Buddhist temples sprung up on every plantation, many of which also had their own resident Buddhist priest. The initiators of the pilgrimage courses were ones of those priests. We guess the initiators were influenced from the miniature pilgrimage courses in Suo-Ohsima Island, Yamaguchi prefecture, because many Japanese immigrants came from this Islands. Finally, in the case of Lawai, we clarified the new movement of shifting the meaning of the miniature pilgrimage courses from the sacred Buddhist site to the global healing site by the local community actions.